It’s Noah Schultz day, everyone!
The second big league start for the highly-hyped 22-year-old Chicagoland native is imminent, making for one of the more highly anticipated April contests in recent memory.
Let’s make a few observations about Schultz’s debut start so we can understand what we might expect today. Per Baseball Savant, Schultz flashed his entire six-pitch arsenal, but largely relied on four offerings. He used his sinker and four-seam fastball in roughly equal proportion to both right- and left-handed
hitters, both clocking in around 97 mph, which would be the fourth-fastest average among all big league lefties this year. Against lefty hitters, Schultz turned to the sweeper as his out pitch, which worked to the extent that hitters went 0-for-3 against it with two strikes. Against righties, Schultz turned into someone Lance Lynn-esque, putting together an even mix of four-seamers, sinkers and cutters that function somewhat like a breaking ball. Now and then, he’ll also try to get a hitter with a back-foot sweeper that’s almost reminiscent of how Carlos Rodón would attack hitters at his peak.
The thing to watch out for today is Schultz’s changeup. He threw it 14% of the time in Triple-A against righties, but on Tuesday he only utilized it twice. With Jeff McNeil and Carlos Cortes getting a day off, the A’s are running out a heavily right-handed lineup. Schultz will need that changeup to keep developing, because his command of his sweeper and slider to righties was spotty on Tuesday and he needs a secondary out pitch to keep hitters on their toes in the event they’re not biting on breaking balls. If Schultz can command those pitches better or find a way to effectively utilize his changeup, we could be looking at a quite fun start on our hands.
Here’s the lineup that Sacramento manager Mark Kotsay has posted for his surprisingly competitive squad, who are sitting in a tie for first place in the AL West at this early junction:
Will Venable counters with the following behind Schultz:
Incredibly, this is the 18th different lineup in 18 games for Venable, continuing to put himself at odds with my fierce assertion that “consistency is key.” Anyhow, the the main alteration for the day being Miguel Vargas’s ascension to the 2-spot, his first start there of the year. It’s quite a relief that the Andrew Benintendi Leadoff Experiment may already have run its course.
The one-two punch of Chase Meidroth and Vargas is an arrangement that I actually like a lot. Both of them are quite difficult to strike out and adept at making contact with most of what they swing at. With the whiff-prone ways of Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Everson Pereira, it makes sense to precede them with hitters who can get on base the old-fashioned way, and sometimes give upcoming hitters an extended look at the pitcher’s arsenal if their ability to make contact results in long at-bats.
Speaking of which, Pereira has been rewarded for his early slugging by batting cleanup for the fourth time this week at the expense of Montgomery. Sam Antonacci gets the afternoon off.
Before the game, the White Sox announced that the revolving door of 13th pitchers on the roster continues, as freshly-claimed Osvaldo Bido (6.30 ERA in six games with Atlanta) pushes Doug Nikhazy back down to Charlotte.
And just for the hell of it, here’s the video of Murakami’s mammoth grand slam the other night:
First pitch is scheduled for at 3:05 p.m. CT, live from Sacramento. If you want to join us, broadcasts are available on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio) like always!
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